History

History 

The series came out of the Spanish Formula Renault Championship, which ran from 1991 to 1997. The World Series was founded as Open Fortuna by Nissan in 1998, and was mostly based in Spain, but visited other countries throughout its history, including France, Italy, Portugal and Brazil. The organization was handled by RPM Comunicacion. The series changed name a number of times, usually adopting the name of its main sponsor, but was also known by other common names such as the unofficial "Formula Nissan".

In its early years, the series used chassis built by Coloni, with a 2.0 L Nissan SR20 engine. The series slotted in between Formula 3 andFormula 3000. In 2002, it adopted a new format, with chassis supplied by Dallara and the engine upgraded to the VQ30. The series also became more international, with more than half of the race calendar held outside Spain.

Renault started the Formula Renault V6 Eurocup in 2003, as a support series in Eurosport's Super Racing Weekends (ETCC and FIA GT Championship). The series ran with Tatuus chassis and a Nissan 3.5 L V6 engine.

In 2005, Renault left the Super Racing Weekend and started the World Series by Renault and the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, merging both the World Series by Nissan (whose engine contract had finished) and Renault V6 Eurocup. The Dallara chassis was retained, while the Renault V6 was improved to 425 PS. Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and the Eurocup Mégane Trophy also joined the series in 2005 to support the main FR3.5 series.

Technical

As of the 2010 season the chassis for the Formula Renault 3.5 Series is a Dallara built carbon fibre monocoque and the engine a 3.5 litre V6 Nissan VQ35 unit producing 480 bhp with a rev limit of 8500rpm. The gearbox is a 6 speed semi-automatic supplied by Ricardo with steering wheel paddle shift. Total weight of the car is 600 kg (dry).

The chassis cost is approximately EUR 130,000 + VAT (as of 2005) with engine leases costing EUR 20,000 per season.

Notable drivers

Formula One drivers in the future and/or past

• Marc Gené
• Fernando Alonso (1999: Champion), competed in Formula One for Minardi, McLaren, Ferrari and was twice world champion with Renault.
• Giorgio Pantano (1999: 21st), competed in Formula One for Jordan.
• Franck Montagny (2001: Champion, 2002: 2nd, 2003: Champion), competed in Formula Onefor Super-Aguri.
• Ricardo Zonta (2002: Champion) – 1997 FIA GT Champion, competed in Formula One for BAR, Jordan and Toyota.
• Narain Karthikeyan (2002: 9th, 2003: 4th, 2004: 6th), competed in Formula One for Jordan and Hispania Racing in 2011.
• Heikki Kovalainen (2003: 2nd, 2004: Champion), competed in Formula One for Renault, McLaren and Lotus.
• Tiago Monteiro (2004: 2nd), competed in Formula One for Jordan and Midland/Spyker.
• Robert Kubica (2005: Champion), has competed in Formula One for BMW and Renault.
• Markus Winkelhock (2005: 3rd), one-off Formula One drive for Spyker (Nurburgring 2007).
• Sebastian Vettel (2006: 15th, 2007: 5th −1st after seven races, when withdrew to compete in F1-), competed in Formula One for BMW, Toro Rosso and Red Bull where became the youngest grand prix winner and World Champion.
• Jaime Alguersuari (2009: 6th) Currently competing in Formula One for Toro Rosso.
• Kamui Kobayashi (2005:1st) has competed in Formula One for Toyota and Sauber.
• Pastor Maldonado (2005: 25th; 2006: 3rd) currently competing in Formula One for Williams F1.
• Karun Chandhok (2005: 29th) has competed in Formula One for Hispania Racing and Lotus.

Champions in other categories

• Andy Priaulx (2001: 18th) – 2004 European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) Champion, 2005, 2006 and 2007 World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) World Champion
• Matteo Bobbi (2001: 11th, 2002: 6th) – 2003 FIA GT Champion
• Alex Lloyd - 2007 Indy Lights champion.
• Simon Pagenaud - 2006 Atlantics Champion.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Series_by_Renault)

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